Working with Flash Player

Working with Flash Player

Flash Player is the software your visitors use to view the SWF files that you build, so it's helpful to understand the software to some extent. It might be a standalone player if you play the SWF file on their hard drives, such as when you create an executable file for a CD-ROM. There are different versions of Flash Player that have released to the public, and have been installed by the masses over the years. The different versions of Flash Player have different capabilities that coincide with the version of Flash that was current at the time. For example, you could not dynamically load JPEG images until Flash Player 6. Any Flash Player installs released prior to that version do not support that functionality, so your visitors must have Flash Player 6 or greater installed on the system.

When you publish a SWF file, you should test it on as many computers as possible. For example, if you expect many of your visitors to view the content on a Macintosh, you should test the SWF on a Mac. Or, if you expect your audience to have old computers, you should have the SWF tested on old machines. The SWF might play differently on different processors or computers with less RAM, so you should test for potential problems and remedy them before releasing your work to the public.